QUEEN & SLIM : Tuesday 17th March 2020.

'QUEEN & SLIM' which I saw this week is a MA15+ Rated American romantic crime drama offering and is Directed by first time film maker Melina Matsoukas who is an already established American music video, television and commercial Director. Amongst her numerous music video's which she has made since 2006 she has worked with Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Whitney Houston, Robin Thicke and Christina Aguilera. Her TV commercials credits take in such companies as Diesel, Adidas, Lexus, Nike and Stella McCartney. This film saw its World Premiere at the American Film Institute Fest in mid-November 2019 and was released in the US in late-November. It has so far received generally positive reviews from critics, has grossed US$47M off the back of a circa US$18M production budget, and has garnered ten award wins and a further 27 nominations from around the awards circuit.

Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim's (Daniel Kaluuya) first Tinder date at a down-beat Ohio diner takes an unexpected turn when a Policeman pulls them over for a minor traffic violation while Slim is driving Queen home. The Police Officer makes Slim get out of the car, frisks him, and asks him to open the car boot asking if he has any stashed guns, alcohol or drugs therein. Slim retorts with only several boxes of shoes, which the Officer opens up and over turns. Slim asks the Officer if he could hurry up as it's cold. The agitated Officer draws his gun on Slim, and when Queen gets out of the car and tries to record the incident on her mobile phone, the situation quickly escalates, and Queen's leg is grazed by a bullet fired by the Policeman, sending her to the ground. Slim tackles the Officer and a scuffle ensues, resulting in Slim grabbing the officer's gun and shooting him with it in self defence. Slim is a god-fearing family loving kinda guy with no criminal history and straight away wants to call it in, but Queen has other plans for fear of spending the rest of their natural lives behind bars.

And so the pair go on the run, in Slim's white Honda with the registration plate 'TrustGod'. They run out of petrol on a remote highway and are able to flag down a passing pick-up truck for help in getting them to a fuel stop. The kindly driver, Edgar (Benito Martinez) turns out to be local Kentucky Sheriff. Arriving at the petrol station, Sheriff Edgar hears a call out on his radio about the murder of an Officer in Ohio, and a description of Queen and Slim. Holding the Sheriff at gun point, they return to their car, make him get in the boot of the Honda, and drive off in his pick-up truck.

The pair travel onwards to New Orleans to the house of Queen's estranged Uncle Earl (Bokeem Woodbine), a pimp who shacks up with Goddess (Indya Moore) and Naomi (Melanie Halfkenny), for help. Although Earl is reluctant to lend his assistance, Queen convinces him to aid them since she had previously helped him avoid jail time for the accidental killing of her mother. Queen we have subsequently learned is a defence lawyer, and her first case upon qualifying was that of her Uncle Earl. 

Slim proposes that they escape to Cuba, and Earl tells them that when he was serving in Iraq, he saved the life of a Mr. Shepherd who would be able to help them get there from Miami. Queen and Slim plan on staying two nights in New Orleans but their stay is interrupted when a Police Officer calls upon the house late at night, poking around and asking questions. He sees the pick-up truck and asks to look around but Earl fends him off saying he'll need to return with a Warrant. Early the next morning the pair take one of Earl's cars, an envelope with a few thousand dollars in it and head towards Florida, but not before torching the pick-up truck on waste ground on the outskirts of the city. 

As they continue on their drive the couple's car breaks down with steam pouring out from under the bonnet. They take it to a workshop they passed not far back, owned by a black mechanic who says it will cost them $2,500 to repair and will take three days. The pair say they need it done today and the mechanic reluctantly agrees when Slim hands over all the remaining cash they have. Watching over the mechanic, who quickly become agitated and looses his patience, suggests his son, Junior (Jahi Di'Allo Winston), take them for a walk to kill a couple of hours and let him get on with the repair job in peace. Junior states his admiration for them both, and lets them know they have become widely recognisable and a symbol against black oppression.

Queen and Slim arrive at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd (Flea and Chloe Sevigny respectively) in Savannah, but a neighbour recognises them. The Shepherds, over dinner tell them about the bounty of $250K each on their heads. Mrs. Shepherd says they could pay off their mortgage with that kind of money, as she is obviously disapproving of her husbands support towards the pair of outlaws. Mr. Shepherd gives them directions to the next person who will be able to assist them. During dinner, a SWAT team shows up outside and Mr Shepherd hurriedly tells Queen and Slim to hide in a crawlspace under the bed in their room until the coast is clear. Soon after the SWAT team burst through the door and search the house, but find no sign of the couple. 

The next morning, they emerge from the crawlspace, and exit the house to the backyard via the window which is two storeys up. Queens jumps first but dislocates her shoulder when landing awkwardly, followed by Slim who lands and rolls. The couple gain easy entry to a rear garage, and Slim relocates Queen's shoulder, resulting in a muffled cry of pain. This attracts the notice of a young black Officer still stationed outside the front of the house, who goes to investigate. As the couple attempt to flee from the Shepherds' garage in a jump started Mercedes station wagon, the black Officer stumbles upon them, but lets them drive off without alerting his fellow Officers standing guard. The pair drive on to the place where they are to meet their next connection, but being the middle of the night and no one there, they sleep in the car until morning. 

In the morning, they are suddenly woken up by a man (Bertrand E. Boyd II) pointing a shotgun at them through the window. He tells them to follow him to his trailer where he can lead them to a friend with a plane that can get them away to Cuba. After making some calls, and after Slim has stressed the urgency of their departure, he drives them to the airstrip and drops them off hastily where a plane is waiting to take off. 

As the two walk toward the plane thinking they are home free, a convoy of Police patrol cars arrives behind them, and a helicopter circles overhead. Recognising that they are not going anywhere, an Officer on a loud hailer keeps ordering the pair to get on the ground, which they ignore. A female Officer impulsively shoots Queen in the chest, killing her instantly. Devastated, Slim picks up her lifeless body and carries her toward the armed mass of Police Officers. Repeatedly ordering him to halt and get down, Slim ignores their directive leading them to gun him down as well in a hail of bullets. News of the tragic end to the manhunt is widely publicised, with the authorities putting their own spin on the events. The couple's real names - Angela Johnson and Earnest Hines are made public, as hundreds of civilians attend their funeral and commemorative services viewing them as both heroes and martyrs.

'Queen & Slim' is in essence a road movie, but not as you might know it. Sure it's about a couple on the run who hijack a pick-up truck and exchange it for various other vehicles before reaching their final destination, but at the same time it's an evolving love story, a tale of prejudice, anger, resentment, hope, pride, trust, faith and power. The film has a pumping soundtrack obviously coloured by Director Matsoukas's numerous music video works, and a visual aesthetic that shows the southern US in all its downtrodden derelict and at times stunning scenery as the pair travel from Ohio, through Kentucky, onto Louisiana into Florida and all the states in between. The performances by Kaluuya and Turner-Smith are first rate as the one time Tinder dates who weren't even going to go on a second date are thrown together on the lam forging a closeness that ultimately is their undoing, and the supporting cast are equally adept in the limited screen time they are afforded. The moral of the story here is to pick your Tinder dates very wisely as the world of two good people turns bad very quickly and from which there is no return, save for martyrdom and the world knowing your true identities once you're dead . . . and what good is that to ya?

'Queen & Slim' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-